For the last 4 months, Rand and I have been living with Rand's dad, Mike. It has been a great place for us to transition and Mike is really easy to live with and the kids love seeing him all the time. However, all of our things are in storage including clothes, shoes, dressers, pots and pans, etc. Originally we didn't think we would be here that long. A month or two as we got settled and found a place to live, selling our house in Washington first of course. Well we did a lot of looking (house shopping) when we first got here. First with a realtor and then on our own, looking at a lot of model homes and new builds. It seemed like weeks of research. We'd been here about a month, maybe a little longer and decided to sign a purchase agreement with Centex Homes on a house that was in progress but wouldn't be finished until September. Our closing date would be September 27. This felt like a long wait to me. It meant a couple more months of living, basically, out of suitcases. The wait was worth it, plus it gave us a little more time to get things taken care of with our house in Washington. [Side note: we've had 3 offers on our house, 2 that were contingent and one that was too low. After holding onto a contingent offer for a month we decided to let it go (this was in July), hoping that they would get their house sold and make us another offer, but in the meantime, our house would be back on the market without any offers on it.] ANYWAY, the house we had the purchase agreement on is beautiful and perfect...and almost finished. We've gone regularly for the last couple months to walk around it, see what's new and dream about living there.
The last couple weeks we have really been stressing out about what we should do. Our loan on our new house was contingent upon the sale of our home in Washington. We were given a plan B loan for the new house but the requirements were $1000/month raise from Rand's job AND $1000 lease agreement on our house in Washington. Ugh! So, we got to work. Basically, we came up with the requirements that would get us into the house. We met the requirements for the mortgage company, but personally it didn't feel right. Rand's raise was more of an "apparant" raise (our insureance benefits getting put into his paycheck rather than just covered by the church) AND we potentially could have my sister and her husband rent our house, but really we just want our house sold. After a couple weeks of trying to figure this all out and really coming to the realization that no matter what, it isn't going to be best for us to buy before our house sells in Washington, we decided to let the house go and stay here until we can get our house sold. How long will that be?? Could be a week.....could be a year.
Needless to say I'm sad. I'm sick of waiting for my own space. I'm trying really hard to just learn the lessons that God is asking me to learn. Patience, obviously. Trust, faith, reliance on Him and finding my comfort in relationships and God rather than a home.
I'm having a really hard time with it because all my reasons for wanting a home are good! :) I'm going to start homeschooling Brendan. He is so excited to start, but I've been waiting to order the curriculum because we really don't have anywhere to put 30 new books, calenders and school supplies. I want somewhere for our friends and family to be able to stay and to visit us when they come down. I want to cook dinner and I want to get all my clothes off the floor.
Because of our decision, Rand and I have decided to go through our storage garage this weekend and see if we can't bring some things home to make life a little easier. Maybe we can find a space for a dresser and maybe we can find some of my kitchen things to bring here.
I have hope for the future and I look forward to the day (that I know will come) that I move into my very own house. I feel weary and burdened and pretty beaten down with the let downs and grief in my life right now that I'm trying to understand and grow from.
Pray for our house to sell (I know a lot of people have been doing this for about 6 months).
Pray for the family's house to sell who wants to buy ours!
Pray for me!
Brendan got this remote control car for his birthday from Grandpa Mike. I think it was by far his favorite gift and he begs to play with it every day. The battery is always charging! Both boys and I walked over a half a mile the other day driving the car all the way around a nearby park. They had to take a cold bath when we got home to cool down and clean up but they had fun. Such boys!!!
I can't believe Brendan is 4. Yesterday (the 7th) was his birthday and he was beyond excited. Last week when I asked him what kind of cake he wanted he said, "I want an airplane cake." I thought, hmmm, how can I make that happen? So we went shopping for a cake pan. When we got to the cake pan section, low-and-behold, he saw a Lightning McQueen cake pan! Let's just say he really wanted a McQueen cake. So we bought it and I really started thinking about what it was going to take to make this cake. Keep in mind we are still living with Rand's dad and all of my kitchen supplies are locked up in a storage garage and Rand's dad doesn't have much in that department. Brendan was too excited for me to let him down, so I had to go buy supplies. I got everything for pastry bags and tips to measuring cups. I even bought a hand mixer. The cake turned out pretty darn good and Brendan loved it. I think it was the highlight of his birthday.
